interiors

Celebrities& Design byDalia Sadany Looks like a new celebrity-hobby is on the rise! Throughout this past month alone many celebrities have ventured into the field of design. Some are sticking to just commenting on furniture, artifacts, lighting products, even architecture and buildings, while others are actually taking an astonishing dive into the process of design itself.

Lenny Kravitz Reveals Chair Designs at Milan Furniture Fair

Lenny Kravitz is known for being a very successful singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, lyricist, record producer, arranger and actor; and that’s not all! Kravitz also thinks of himself as an interior designer. The rocker/actor has entered into mass-production for the design world, revealing a number of chairs he designed for Italian furniture company Kartell at the Milan Furniture Fair. The chairs are based on the well-known designer Phillippe Starck’s “Mademoiselle” armchair. Kravitz said his aim was to give the chairs “feel, texture and plushness.” Well, mis-sion accomplished! The funky chairs are heavily covered in python leather or fur, similar to what the rocker himself likes to wear at times. “Kartell goes rock” was born.

Kravitz also designed black and white tiles for Lea Ceramiche that were inspired by water drops and waves, creating an undulating effect on the wall. Ac-cording to Kravitz, he’s always been interested in in-terior design; “since I was a kid, it was always impor-tant how my room was put together. I would buy all these posters, fabrics and lighting, and I would make the room the way I wanted it to be.” Kravitz also adds, “the most important thing was to create a vibe,” and once that happened, “my world was set.”

It seems his childhood tendencies, well, plus fame and fortune, was enough to qualify the artist to open up his own firm, Kravitz Design Inc. Since then, he has worked with Swarovski on a series of chandeliers and designed a Miami Beach recording studio as well as the Florida Room Lounge at the Delano Hotel in Miami. He even brings his design team along on tours to work on projects after performances.

Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who says she is obsessed with interior design, began reporting on product design, with her review of the Maison et Objet trade show in Paris, published on her blog Goop. Her commentaries have made her quite a referral critic for people of interest in the field. Here’s a summary of the very informative evaluation: she basically loved everything!

“We all loved this trompe l’oeil wooden floor at Bohemian Works. Made me seriously consider redecorating!”

“Also loved these modern, round side tables by Muuto and Normann Copen-hagen - both by Scandinavian companies.”

“Loved every single lamp on the wall display from this French lighting design studio.”

Justin Timberlake is yet another celebrity with a love for interior design and architecture. Merge that with his passion for innovation and of course his aesthetic awareness and artistic skills and you get a home design line of products called “HomeMint,” which consists of high-end style and quality design. The line includes home items that are created for everyday use, including rugs, cereal bowls, and tea glasses. Seems easy enough, maybe we should all give it a try!

Timberlake and his good friend and interior designer Estee Stanley

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Brad Pitt is also meddling in the realms of architecture and interior design with his “Make It Right Foundation,” which was enthusiastically put into action to design homes for hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans. The company started working with LivingHomes to provide low-priced energy efficient homes throughout the entire country.

Electronic musician Moby has been an of-ficial Los Angeles resident since December 2010 and has recently started up an archi-tecture blog where he posts comments on LA buildings. I guess he somehow managed to become quite the expert in just two years. Perhaps it was his background as an ex- New

Yorker who owned a vegetarian teahouse on the Lower East Side, which qualifies him to be such an architectural connoisseur. LA has been waiting for a musician from New York to reveal the true nature of this famously fasci-nating and multi-layered city.

Ice Cube celebrates the Eames

O’Shea Jackson studied architectural drafting and has a deep appreciation for designs and the arts, probably before he decided to become a rapper and refer to himself as Ice Cube! Nevertheless, he recently appeared in a video where he spoke about the work of modern design legends Charles and Ray Eames.

Movie and TV star, Sofia Vergara has increased her already-extraordinary endorsement collection, which includes Diet Pepsi, Cover Girl, Burger King and Comcast, by coming up with a home range of beddings, bathroom accessories and home ware known as “Sofia” for Kmart. Perhaps she, unlike Timberlake and Jackson, does not share the pas-sion but like the majority of us just wants to make money. “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola gets,” right?

Sofia by Sofia Vergara expands upon the clothing line the actress has already launched with the retailer Kmart

Sofia Bedding by Kmart

Even Mercedes Benz is giving it a shot! The world-class company is moving into the lifestyle sector by produc-ing a furniture range inspired by its cars and designed to give you a glimpse of what to imagine in the car’s interiors and exteriors.

We should probably thank the likes of super model

Cindy Crawford, as she may have been one of the ini-tiators leading up to this outburst, when she launched her line of furniture, “Cindy Crawford Home Col-lection,” back in 2005. Since, of course, one is never enough; she now also has a furniture line with Raymour & Flanigan and launched another home goods line with J. C. Penney in late 2009.

New furniture line from Mercedes Benz

The super model Cindy Crawford now runs and designs, not one but, three home furniture lines

Personally, it’s quite ironic to think that the field of architecture and interior design could go from a serious profession to a commercial parade, where celebrity culture takes over the field of design as it has the fashion world.

If that does end up happening, would the title Architect or Interior Designer become tar-nished for good? Will the fame, fortune and opportunity celebrities have, trump talent and years of hard work? I guess for those of us ar-chitects and designers who have struggled for decades on polishing our craft, there is noth-ing left for us to do but act in a multi-million dollar movie, perhaps even sing a number one hit song… just to pass the time!

It seems that the majority of the above ce-lebrity examples have somewhat of a sincere “passion” for design. But I’m still a little wor-ried and I sometimes wonder, “is this just the beginning”? Will this recent pattern transform from a genuine appeal towards architecture and design to an all-out common trend where the field is flooded with untrained amateurs solely performing PR stunts?

I might sound peevish and dismayed, but I am growing weary of overpaid and over-

valued celebrities being paid exorbitant amounts of money to lend their name to everyday products. Sure, it is the nature of the beast; but aren’t we getting tired of lining these people’s pockets, when they are largely just figure heads, where a celebrity would occasionally play a role in suggesting, approving certain designs , whilst the genuine technical craftsmanship is performed by accomplished hired professionals in the shadows ?Isn’t it enough that we pay to go see their movies, listen to their music or purchase the magazines they are fea-tured in? What is the take on celebrities being dubbed “Jacks of all trades”? Does their endorsement “up” the desirability level in the public for certain products?

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